The Bush Doctrine: A stand for liberty

Boston Herald ^ | 5/02/03

[kattracks]

Today's wars don't end with the drama or finality of yesterday's conflicts. There are no swords to be surrendered, no documents to be signed. Heck, no one even knows if Saddam Hussein is alive or dead and surely his signature on a piece of paper couldn't make his complete and utter defeat any more real than it is at this moment.
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Last night, from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, President Bush made it as official as this war's end can or will get. It was a moment fraught with symbolism - 5 acres of sovereign U.S. territory in the middle of the Pacific, manned by 5,000 young American men and women, all of them headed back to the homes they left nine months ago.

And while he didn't declare ``victory'' - a word perhaps too full of hubris, too likely to offend, the president did say, ``The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on.

``The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless,'' he added. ``We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide. No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost. Free nations will press on to victory.''

It is the beginning of a genuine Bush Doctrine - a doctrine that had to be crafted on the fly, even as the ruins of the World Trade Towers smoldered. But it is a doctrine for this new millennium, for the strange and dangerous era this nation entered 19 months ago.

``Our nation has a mission,'' the president said. ``We will answer threats to our security and will defend the peace.''

It is a doctrine striking in its simplicity and its honesty.

``We will stand for human liberty,'' he said.

So this is not an end to a ``war'' but to most combat operations. It is not exactly war and it is not exactly peace. There are difficult months ahead, months of rebuilding not just a nation and its infrastructure, but to help as best we can the people of Iraq build a democracy.

Even in the triumph of this moment, the president reminded us to remember the 137 Americans who gave their lives to achieve this victory. We should mark this victory in their names - and in the names of the nearly 300,000 who will return to their families today, tomorrow and in the months ahead. This is their victory and one in which they should take enormous pride as do those of us in whose name they fought.

[RockBassCreek]

And while he didn't declare ``victory'' - a word perhaps too full of hubris, too likely to offend, the president did say, ``The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on.

Compare the president's words with the paper's words. I think they totally miss the point.

So this is not an end to a ``war'' but to most combat operations. It is not exactly war and it is not exactly peace. There are difficult months ahead, months of rebuilding not just a nation and its infrastructure, but to help as best we can the people of Iraq build a democracy.

This is not an end to combat operations because Pres. Bush says above that Iraq was just one battle (campaign) in the overall war on terror. CLEARLY -- that means that there are other PLANNED conflicts in the CONTINUING war on terror.

This paper is fixated on the aftermath in Iraq. That's because it's a scab they can pick at.

[hchutch]

I wonder what the folks in Tehran and Damascus are thinking...

Perhaps what Jennifer Griffin thought when she quickly ducked around the corner when the Israelis did a little cleanup recently. :)